BowSlayer101

id get a square back canoe, easy to stand up on, very stable, can use a trolling motor if you don't feel like paddling, kayaks are nice but you really have to time your trips so that theres little to no wind where as a square back can handle the wind a little better, still not like a boat though. kayaks are nice for portaging because they are light and can be carried easily, canoes weight a bit more but again more stable. Ive stood up in kayaks in calm water no problem but in windy conditions it won't be enjoyable. The good thing about a kayak is that you don't have to move, its small so all your equipment is within arm length away from you, also you can transport them easier when you are alone where as a canoe is usually a bit heavier unless you're looking to spend thousands on it and is more suitable for a couple of people. But another problem with the yak is that if you rig it with a fish finder, rod holders, etc, you won't be able to portage with it very easily and will have to look at more accessible places. Another one to condor is a "portabote" I've heard they are very stable and very easily transportable, but i can imagine the price on those things......... lol, heres a link: http://www.porta-bote.com

thanks guys!! Oh ya its an awesome lake, always produces for me, best laker lake i can think of as far as numbers go!

thanks for the kind words! I never knew they come off bottom that much, all i get them on usually is set lines with a huge chunk of minnows lol!

Was out on joe last night, got there around 3, stayed until 8, we got our limits on lakers and released a bunch more, was really cold and we had no hut so i just sticked mostly to the williams spoon. I fund some open holes way over on the other side of where we were fishing and decided to try it out, after a few rips, i feel the rod bend and that beautiful sound of the drag fire up, unfortunately it was a bit loose and the fish managed to get off, it felt like a nice one, darn it! I jigged some more with no luck and we moved over to that spot, i started jigging again with a minnow head and finally a fish on the line! Felt like a nice laker but to my surprise a ling pops his head out of the hole! Ive never had this happen before so was kinda surprised a bottom feeder would chase a fast action spoon. We put one set line down each and one jigging, i was using a wiliams for a few hours straight and tried every open hole i could find, from 40-160 feet, with nothing but that single ling to show for. Switched over to a batboy and as soon as it got down there i had a bite, there were tons of fish down there through the hole water column but very picky, they would only hit live minnows and they HAD to be jigged as well!! We released around 15 fish all together, not too bad for the evening considering its usually almost dead after noon. Most were caught on the bad boy with a small orange glow in the dark tube tipped with a shiner, second biggest producer was the set line, which i landed the 2nd ling on just before dark, as well as some nice lakers, i released a few of the bigger fish and kept some smaller ones, for a little fish fry, biggest i kept was 21 inches biggest caught was 23 inches. Not a bad day out bit really cold and windy had to hide behind some points, lol! heres a pic for you guys, also had another pic of the ling but i swiped the screen by accident and dang phone deleted it, can't find a way to get it back.

thanks for the kind words!

thanks for the nice comets guys! The tank was only half full i did drill a lot of holes, than came back to the ones we drilled first, lol!

thanks guys! gino: just at home tomorrow, can't make it out anywhere, probably won't be out until next weekend, wanted to hit joe but not gonna work tomm. or sunday.

Well ChristopherK. and i decided to go hit a lake in the haliburton highlands, in hopes of hooking a few ling. When we got there, i expected good laker action, well we didn't have that, neither did we have any action at all. I started drilling holes like crazy, checking and jigging each one and by the time i drilled the two holes for the hut, i managed to run out of gas for the auger and we had to chisel the other hole through. By the time i got back, Chris already had a ling on the ice and was pulling up another. I decided to join in on the fun, we set up the hut and had a good number of hits, then it lit up, Chris got one, then i did, then back to Chris, then i get a small laker, only one so far. I decide to go back to another hole where i had recently lost a whitie, i go over, mark something right on bottom on the flasher, as I'm dropping my micro jig and minnow down there, just as it gets halfway down, a big red mark is heading towards my bait, i stop flip the bail back over, and something smashes my jig, i set the hook hard and it goes off like a freight train, my ul looked as if it were about to snap any second now and my drag was barely holding off my four lb test. Just as i think it might be a huge whitie, i get a headshake and a run down 30' below, nope this is now whitie, its a laker!! I yell for Chris to come and help and just as he runs over i manage to lift out this beauty laker on my 5th try after it falling back in the hole 4 times without me getting a grip. I went over back to the hut and watch Chris's rod tip bounce, i set the hook and yell for him to come and grab his rod, he pulls out a nice ling in a couple minutes and we decide to call it a day, beautiful weather but the wind was a pain, still an awesome outing![/url

done, good luck!

thanks guys, heres some more photos for better size reference:[/url[/url

Well Chris and myself met up with a couple guys today on joe, we started at around 160 fow, then me and Chris decided to go closer to shore. As soon as we got the hut up, we had one fish each and were releasing all the fish, because we wanted something bigger. After at least 2 hours of good consistent action, i put on a williams gold spoon and it went uphill from there. Got 2 nice ones in 15 minutes that were pulling drag like crazy! After Chris seeing how well the spoon worked for me, he decided he wanted tog I've it a shot too. He put on a silver spoon and we had a double header in 10 minutes, had a CO check us as well, nice to see them circling around the lake. I had a great time on the ice, so many fish iced that i lost count, mostly fish in the 1-2 pound range but tons of fun nonetheless! here are a couple pics for now, will post a couple more ounce i get to the cleaning process![/url

cabelas in the states compared to a canadian bass pro location is like haven, i hope this one will be somewhat like the ones in the states but who knows, the bass pro in vaughn def. won't be hard to beat of them, pure disappointments at the BPS in vaughn, now the states stores on the other hand.....lol

heading there today, it closes march 1st for walleye so my last trip out there.

lol, to each their own

this guy is very knowledgeable, I've talked to him even before he worked at sail, i actually had no idea that he worked there but bumped into him, i find bass pro staff don't know the first thing about fishing but almost all the star in the vaughn sail fishing department are very knowledgeable, i don't have the time or money to drive to small stores, they usually charge much more then the big box stores i knew what i wanted, but advice from someone who knows his stuff certaintly didn't help! By the way, I'm not trying to put down the smaller stores, they know their stuff well but id rather save the driving, get the item on sale and if it happens that there are no knowledgeable staff there then just look at the specs and choose myself, however a small bait shop in barrie (bait bucket) caught my attention a month or so ago and a couple weeks ago i picked up a simax med/heavy 7' bass rod for 60 bucks, regular price is $145, so i was very pleased with that, and the guy there was very kind and knowledgeable!

i was at the waterfront a few weeks back, lots of small perch in 26fow, i only got a dozen or so, the bottom was filled with them but they wouldn't bite, got a bunch of smelt and lost a whitie loser to the evening, not the most productive area right now, id go to glford, tons of sinks there that bite nonstop the last few weeks has been fairly slow, considering cooks is usually nonstop but you don't have to walk out far and you should get at least a couple dozen fish, maybe even a pike or two.

not they had tax on sunday, not on saturday, (at least at the vaughn location) however it was a minimum of 15% off of everything in store

ok, so i was told that apparently the reels were more then 15% off this past weekend, so thats probably the reason.

i got it 30 bucks off, i don't know how, I'm guessing the cashier screwed up, not my problem, lol, i know shimano is good but after comparing a shimano to a president, i found pflueger is smoother, has more bearings, over all a nicer reel, the more experienced guy said there are shimano and pflueger guys out there but both reels are top notch, he said the pflueger would be a better choice, because it is known for quality and had better reviews, i know a bunch of guys who say that shimano is a problematic reel and the same number of guys saying that about pflueger, i was told though in the long run, i you take care of your reel, and don't drop it and put it in water, etc. then it will last you forever. I got the pflueger because the design was waaaaaay better then the shimano lol, also because it was lighter and just felt better in my hands, with the eva know and carbon handle, so far its been, good, got out with it for some steelies and ended up losing a nice brown, drag help up perfect in freezing conditions, never had a problem, i take care of my reels so i don't see why there should be a problem. I thought about getting the patriarch but the guy there told me the reviews were worse for it, and its not worth the 50 bucks more, he said its not even worth what the supreme costs, it has really thin material that is lightweight but in return breaks very easily, thats what i was told anyways. Also have a few friends that use shimanos for ice fishing and they say the drag screws up and freezes them all the time, (on the stradic models) so that kind of steered me off to.

thanks guys, hope it works as well as the guys at sail told me it would, lol!

no man, i don't use such expensive reels for ice fishing, nothing over 30 bucks, just not brave enough lol. Im not paying over 100 bucks to have it break on me for some laker, i use bait casters and cheaper spinning reels with good drags for ice fishing. I just plan on using it for bass, pike, gar, maybe some trout with hardware, musky, etc. I use centerpin gear for river fishing usually.

thanks for the input guys, i looked at some shimanos, i didn't really like the sahara, the drag was as good as the pfluegers i looked at but the design wasn't the best and the huge reel handle didn't really get my vote, i looked at some stradics, the cheaper white ones were ok and not far from my budget regular price 190, i could have gotten it for 150, i liked the stradic for 280 but thats was way out of my budget, the guys there recommended the shimanos and the pfluegers, they all told me that some guys like shimanos, others pfluegers, they all perform sty about the same level if they aren't abused. I looked at a daiwa but the guys there said its a problematic reel, so i looked at the pflueger supreme xt and the even more expensive one, didn't see a difference between the two, i though it wasn't worth the extra 50 bucks, i ended up getting the pflueger supreme xt, the experienced older guy at sail said he has had one since it came out and never had any issues, just gotta take care of it. They spooled it with 15 lb power pro for me, came with a reel glove and an extra spool, weights 8.5 ounces, carbon fibre handle and magnesium body, regular price was 150, they gave it to me for 120, overall I'm pleased with it, looks great, drag is amazing, really light, it met my expectations, heres a few pics:[/url

ya i was thinking of buying used but for that money i don't want anything second hand, i looked at the shamans they look nice but I'm not a fan of their designs, its no biggie but still, ill definitely have a look at some shimanos.

im gonna stop by at sail today and have a loo at the stradic and pfleuger, all the reviews i read for all reels have mixed reviews, both the shimano and pflueger have near 5 stars and pflueger is known for quality from the president, I've heard guys say that shimano is amazing and some guys say that they'll never go back after using pflueger, lol. I'll just see which one fees better and has a better drag, I'm debating over a shimano or a pflueger right now.